Can we just stop for a minute appreciate the fact that you(Steve) had a video camera in 1973??!!??……….thanks for sharing this and all of your other videos………Bill Barbour.
Thanks Steve. For posting your videos always a pleasure to watch. Very fitting for me as I stared with a gyrkin last season,what I must admit was slow going with our English wet and windy weather. But am looking for to this season with hi expectations.
You couldn't know it at the time, but when you passed Whitehorse you were already in Gyr country and if you had turned left vs. right at Haines Junction, you were a little more than an hour from Gyrs in the alpine tundra on the Haine's highway. Even today, it seems ironic that you can find Gyrs well south of the arctic in some places. I have not returned to the Yukon since 1971 and so much has changed there now, even the Alcan is paved now and the ptarmigan and Gyrs have declined in many locations.
I remember discussing one of Steve's articles in a NAFA journal, about BBG with Les Winkler, back in the mid 70's. Les said, I wonder if BBG stands for "Big Bad Gyr?"
It Is really amazing how you have documented all these videos since those years , and Keep them!! Thanks for sharing iit Is a treasure for Northamerican Falconry , I have read some of your articles in some NAFA Journals , and a friend of Mine , Denis, met you in a recent NAFA meet. Regards from Perú. Pedro Yrigoyen
This short video reminded me of my early experiences when I was very young. I was driven to become a falconer since the age of 10, and though there was very little info on how to go about that, I didn't give up. After finding a sponsor (John Swift, a falconer that many of you may know, and a very generous man), I embarked on a pretty wild journey. Basically clueless, except for some book reading and some fortunate outings with a handfull of local falconers, I simply 'did it'. That is to say, I gave 100% of my effort every day. I trapped a female passage Redtailed hawk, and by the end of my first season managed to catch 46 blacktailed jackrabbits, 25 cottontails, and two pheasants. Don't ask me how. I figured every apprentice falconer did this. Only later did I realize that I had accomplished quite a lot for a 16-year-old kid. I really miss experiencing the magic of exploration and discovery as a young man.
Excellent video! Glad I'm not the only one to lose a bird to a power pole. The effort required to aquire BBG makes me thankful for the breeders we have these days.
